Project Libra
by April Dragon
Summary: The Smashers have always fought Master and Crazy Hand, but how will they react when they discover who and what the Hands really are? Rated T, just in case.
1. Prologue

**Hello, lovely peoples. This is my first fanfic for this fandom, so please, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is needed. Thanks a bunch. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own SSBB or any of its characters. They belong to Nintendo and Hal Laboratories.**

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**Prologue**

It was near sunset in the newly restored World of Trophies, bathing the land, sea, and sky in a warm glow. Those who had experienced the recent attempts of Tabuu to completely engulf the world in Subspace were celebrating their heroes' victory, and appreciating the beauty of their world which was almost lost. However, there was one who wasn't aware of the Subspace, Tabuu, or even the near end of the world.

Crazy Hand wandered alone across the quiet beach in search of his older twin brother, Master Hand. The last Crazy saw of Master was after a rather exhausting and painful fight with one of their toys. Despite their eventual triumph over their naughty toy, the battle left both of the Hands greatly weakened and injured, reducing them to their true forms. When they returned to the mansion where they lived, Master treated their wounds as best he could and told his tired brother to sleep, promising that they would both be returned to their "glove" forms by the time he woke up. It never happened. When Crazy woke up, not only hadn't he changed back, but his brother was no where to be found. This left the poor Hand in a state of unrelenting panic. Master would never break a promise to him, so Crazy could only conclude that something terrible had happened while he slept. Without thinking, and without checking his own injuries, he fled the mansion in search of his brother, until he finally reached the beach.

Crazy wandered along the coastline, occasionally shuddering from the cool breeze. He was tired and in pain, but he wouldn't end his search. He needed to find his brother. Then, he stopped. Crazy stared, completely frozen, at a figure he nearly missed due to his weariness. A figure that was lying partially in the water. A figure that looked all too familiar to be real.

Never had the peace been broken by a more agonized scream.

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**Alright, I fixed the italics. Sorry about that, that's just how uploaded the document from my computer. Don't know why . . . --'**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't SSBB or any of its characters. They belong to Nintendo.**

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**Chapter 1**

Trudging along a beach with cold water in the fading twilight was not Solid Snake's idea of a good time. After hiding out in a ridiculously large flying battleship, being found out by a blue dog thing and a ball with wings, fighting a giant two-headed robot, nearly getting blasted out of the sky, practically rushing head first in the unknown Subspace, getting turned into a trophy by a butterfly version of the guy from Tron, then being revived so he could fight the same butterfly man from Tron, Snake felt he deserved at least one day of relaxation. In fact, he was one of a select group of Smashers who actually wished to just lie back and enjoy the peace. The majority of the Smashers had departed to pursue different interests, leaving Snake, Samus, Lucario, Falco, Zelda, Link, Peach, and Mario to continue to watch the sunset and contemplate recent events. However, the tranquility they'd been enjoying was abruptly shattered by a piercing scream that seemed to originate from the beach below the cliff that they were standing on. Whether it was out of genuine concern or a fear that the Subspace was returning, the Smashers decided to split up and comb the beach for source of the scream, which was the reason why Solid Snake was trudging along a beach with cold water in the fading twilight.

Understandably, Snake was not in the best of moods. Not only was he wet and, for some unknown reason, covered in sand, but the rapidly waning light was making it increasingly difficult to see. Considering that there had been no other signs of distress, Snake decided to contact Samus and call it quits. However, something caught his eye, stopping him. There was a barely visible silhouette sitting at the edge of the beach, with the water occasionally rushing up and lapping at it. Curiosity getting the better of him, Snake started inching closer to investigate. He nearly jumped clear out of his suit when the silhouette shuffled a bit. He decided that his best bet was to contact Samus.

"Samus," Snake breathed into the communicator in a hushed tone, "contact the others and hurry over to my location. I think I found something, or someone."

--

Samus Aran marched along shore with six Smashers in tow, heading to the area of the beach where Snake was located. Like Snake, Samus was not in her happiest of moods. The sun had slipped passed the horizon, and there wasn't even enough twilight left to see two feet in any direction. Scouring the beach for six Smashers and then looking for a certain location was like playing hide-and-seek in a house during a power outage at night. It wasn't very fun. She sincerely hoped that whatever Snake found was worth the time spent looking.

After wading blindly along the beach while listening to the quiet murmurs and grumbles of the Smashers behind her, Samus finally spotted the tell-tale glow of one of Snake's cigarettes. Still, she approached with caution, not knowing what Snake had found. Without even sparing her a glance, he began speaking.

"It's over there, about three yards ahead of us," he said, taking the cigarette from his mouth and using it as a pointer.

"How can you tell?" Link asked. "We can't even see each other."

"I've been sitting here watching it this whole time, waiting for you guys to show up." Snake paused, taking another puff from the cigarette before speaking again. "It hasn't moved from that spot since I found it."

Falco let out a huff in response. "How do you even know it's a living thing?"

"Because," Snake said, once again taking a puff, "it moved."

Samus' mind needed to rewind the conversation she just heard, confused at Snake's comment. "What do you mean it moved? You just said it didn't."

"No," Snake began slowly, "I said it hasn't moved from _this spot_. I never said that it hasn't moved at all."

Zelda, trying to keep the already tense Smashers from being agitated even further, spoke out as the voice of reason.

"Maybe if we had more light, we could see what it is."

"Hold on, I think I have a light somewhere . . ." Snake trailed off, quickly looking through his belt. "Ah ha! Found it!"

Snake held out a small, oval-like device in a triumphant manner. Everyone else remained silent, waiting.

" . . . What the hell are you waiting for?" Falco snapped, irritated.

"A compliment on finding a flashlight."

"We can't even see-"

Before Falco could finish his sentence, Snake squeezed the small object, turning on a obnoxiously bright light. All the Smashers raised their arms protectively over their faces, with their hissed curses being joined by a surprised yelp coming from three yards in front of the them. The eight Smashers gazed intently ahead of them, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the light. When they could finally see the figure clearly, they gaped in shock. Mario was the first to break the silence.

"It's . . . a child."

"Not just one child!" Peach suddenly cried. "There are two of them!"

Indeed, there were, in fact, two male children in front of them. One boy was conscious, peering with wide, frightened eyes as he cradled the other boy, who appeared almost dead. Both were wearing what looked like loose white pajamas that were stained with dirt and what looked like blood. The conscious one had shaggy, black hair that fell right above his shoulders, and wore one white glove on his left hand. The other one had the same exact type of hair, except it was white. He also had one white glove on his right hand. Both were lean with pale skin, and looked between the ages of seven and eight. Samus, disgusted that someone could, and apparently had, allowed such young children to fall into this situation, immediately jumped into action.

"They need medical attention, now. We also need to find shelter."

Samus began to make her towards the children, stepping into the light as she did. Even though the conscious boy could only see her silhouette, he knew exactly who she was. With a terrified cry, he pushed himself back further into the water, dragging the other boy with him. He quickly raised his left hand, holding it out as if to keep Samus at a distance.

"Go away!" he screamed, obviously scared out of his mind. "Leave us alone!"

Samus was startled at this action, but continued forward.

"You both need help-"

"NO! Naughty toys! Stay back!"

All the Smashers froze on the spot. There were only two beings that ever referred to them as toys.

"It . . . It can't be . . ." Link stammered, dumbfounded. "Master Hand and Crazy Hand, two of our oldest enemies, are children?"

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**Finally! I thought I'd never get this chapter finished. I've been having to do a lot of things; graduation, college entrance tests (which were easy), mowing the lawn (which I HATE). Anyway, sorry if anybody is out of character during the story. I don't play Metroid, MGS, or Star Fox, so I had to use the internet (i.e. Wikipedia) to learn about the characters more. I also just realized that I didn't give poor Lucario any lines in this chapter! Don't worry, he'll have them in the next one.  
**


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